Alan Huggins

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the philatelist, see Alan K. Huggins.

Sir Alan Huggins
赫健士爵士
Born15 May 1921
Middlesex, England
Died10 December 2009 (aged 88)
Devon, England
OccupationJudge

Sir Alan Armstrong Huggins (

Court of Final Appeal
until 2003.

Biography

Early years

Alan Huggins was born in

MA degree in 1941.[1]

During the Second World War Huggins served at the Salvage Branch of the

King's Bench Walk for four years from 1947 to 1951.[2]

Judicial career

In 1951, Huggins entered the Colonial Service and followed his elder brother to Africa, becoming a resident magistrate in Kampala, Uganda. However, his first wife did not want to stay in Africa after her sister-in-law was murdered by a servant in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia.[2] In 1953, Huggins was therefore transferred to Hong Kong as a stipendiary magistrate and the president of the Tenancy Tribunals.[4] He later became a magistrate in the New Territories in 1955, the First Magistrate of Kowloon in 1956, and was promoted as a district judge in 1958.[4]

Huggins was appointed a

Chief Secretary, Sir Denys Roberts.[3] Huggins was instead appointed a Vice-President of the Court of Appeal and became a Knight Bachelor in 1980. He received the knighthood in person from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in the following year.[6] Huggins served as the acting Chief Justice on a number of occasions during his capacity as the Vice-President and retired subsequently in 1987.[3] Huggins was also the chairman of the Advisory Committee on Legal Education from 1972 to 1987 and an honorary lecturer at the University of Hong Kong from 1979 to 1987.[3]

Apart from his judicial career in Hong Kong, Huggins was the

Supreme Court of Brunei from 1966 to 1983.[1] He remained in the same position until 1987 after the independence of Brunei from Britain in 1984.[7] From 1991 to 2000, he was once again appointed as the Judicial Commissioner. He then became the President of the Court of Appeal of Brunei from 2000 until 2002.[8]

Later years

Huggins resided in

St Helena, the British Indian Ocean Territory and Bermuda.[3][7] After the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, Huggins, along with other colonial judges such as Sir Denys Roberts, Art McMullin, Sir Derek Cons and Sir Noel Power, was appointed as one of the first non-permanent Hong Kong judges of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, serving for a three-year term.[9] He later served for another three-year term from 2000 to 2003.[5]

Huggins died in Devon on 10 December 2009, aged 88. A memorial service was held in the St Michael and All Angels Church,

Robert Ribeiro, a permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal, also paid tribute to Huggins, saying that "the widely shared sentiment in the legal community is that Hong Kong will always be grateful for the lasting contribution Sir Alan made to the foundations of our present system of law".[3]

Personal life

Huggins married, firstly, Catherine Davidson Dick, in Laleham, Surrey, on 2 December 1950. The couple had two sons and a daughter, namely, Adrian, Roger Davidson and Rosemary Anne.[1] However, his first marriage ended in divorce. In 1985, he married, secondly, Elizabeth Low, in Hong Kong. The wedding ceremony was presided over by the Chief Justice, Sir Denys Roberts, in his official residence on the Peak. The second Lady Huggins died in 2007.[3][7]

Huggins was a lover of

Hong Kong and Macao.[3]

Honours
Coat of arms of Alan Huggins
Crest
On a wreath of the colours on a mount Vert a lion couchant Azure semée of cinquefoils Argent.
Escutcheon
Argent a lion couchant between three fusils Azure.
Motto
Unity And Perseverance [10]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e SINCLAIR, Kevin, "HUGGINS, Alan Armstrong (Sir)", Who's Who in Hongkong, Database Publication, 1984.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Sir Alan Huggins", The Daily Telegraph, 8 February 2010.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Sir Alan Huggins: colonial judge", The Times, 11 January 2010.
  4. ^ a b LUZZATTO, Rola, "HUGGINS, ALAN ARMSTRONG", Hong Kong Who's Who: An Almanac of Personalities and Their History, 1958–1960, 1960.
  5. ^ a b c "Statement by the Chief Justice", Press Release, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 15 December 2009.
  6. ^ "Issue 48599", London Gazette, 1 May 1981, p.1.
  7. ^ a b c d Horton, A.V.M., Negara Brunei Darussalam: Obituary 2009, Borneo Research Bulletin, 2010.
  8. ^ a b Mohd Zulfadli Hj Abdul Hamid, The Passing of Sir Alan Armstrong Huggins, 10 March 2010.
  9. ^ Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission Report 1997-2002, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2002.
  10. ^ Burke's Peerage. 2003.

References

  • LUZZATTO, Rola, "HUGGINS, ALAN ARMSTRONG", Hong Kong Who's Who: An Almanac of Personalities and Their History, 1958–1960, 1960.
  • "Issue 48599", London Gazette, 1 May 1981, p. 1.
  • SINCLAIR, Kevin, "HUGGINS, Alan Armstrong (Sir)", Who's Who in Hongkong, Database Publication, 1984.
  • "Statement by the Chief Justice", Press Release, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 15 December 2009. website
  • Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission Report 1997-2002, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2002. online version
  • Horton, A.V.M., Negara Brunei Darussalam: Obituary 2009, Borneo Research Bulletin, 2010.website
  • "Sir Alan Huggins: colonial judge", The Times, 11 January 2010. website
  • "Sir Alan Huggins", The Daily Telegraph, 8 February 2010. website
  • Mohd Zulfadli Hj Abdul Hamid, The Passing of Sir Alan Armstrong Huggins, 10 March 2010. website[permanent dead link]

External links

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